Brandon Dutcher | June 19, 2018
Partisan divide seen in Oklahomans’ trust in news media
Brandon Dutcher
One of the more interesting questions in an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll of American voters last year was this: “How much do you trust the media: A great deal, a good amount, not very much, not at all?”
That seemed like a good question to pose to Oklahoma voters as well. And according to a new statewide survey of 502 likely Oklahoma voters commissioned by OCPA and conducted by Cor Strategies (margin of error: plus/minus 4.37 percent), Oklahoma Democrats trust the news media much more than Oklahoma Republicans do.
Though the news media’s trust rating is underwater among Oklahomans generally, what’s fascinating is the partisan divide. Two in three Oklahoma Democrats say they trust the media “a great deal” or “a good amount.” Meanwhile, nearly three in four Oklahoma Republicans say they trust the news media “not at all” or “not very much.”
Brandon Dutcher
Senior Vice President
Brandon Dutcher is OCPA’s senior vice president. Originally an OCPA board member, he joined the staff in 1995. Dutcher received his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Oklahoma. He received a master’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in public policy from Regent University. Dutcher is listed in the Heritage Foundation Guide to Public Policy Experts, and is editor of the book Oklahoma Policy Blueprint, which was praised by Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman as “thorough, well-informed, and highly sophisticated.” His award-winning articles have appeared in Investor’s Business Daily, WORLD magazine, Forbes.com, Mises.org, The Oklahoman, the Tulsa World, and 200 newspapers throughout Oklahoma and the U.S. He and his wife, Susie, have six children and live in Edmond.